After a long wait, I finally put my hands on the precious...
Actually I agree to say it is so small!! You can't figure out how a so small unit can be able to deliver so much power!!
The build is ok, looks strong: no apparent problem: tubes are little bit left sided into their places but aren't in contact with the unit. The stack (with PassPort) is stable IMO.
I used to listen to my LCD2 via an O2 which was good honestly (regarding price) but via the Pan Am: damn perfect!! Every sound is at its right place, basses are present but not heavy, better spacialization; plus the volume is only at quarter...: means a lot about the power of this amp.
For the moment only russian tubes burnt in: really happy about vocals and bass rendering; I still got french R.T.C tubes to try and of course I'll purchase some famous Mullard to make my opinion. The Integrated DAC is making the job pretty well; would be great to compare with a Cypherlabs Class...
I connect my mac mini via a regular LaCie USB cable.
Yes Pan Am is expansive, but worth it if you own LCD2 ( or LCD3 I guess): they make themselves favors
My pleasure of listening to music or enjoying already known albums has never been so big!!
The only issue I found are the interferences you can hear in the headphones when your hands are near the tubes (or manipulating the volume button) when no music is playing otherwise I'm not able to hear some.
My only wish now is to compare with a WA7 Woo Audio unit which seems to be very promising even if I cannot imagine how it can be better ^^
PS: we could maybe open a new thread about the Pan Am tubes relating the Valentin's headfonia article and each headfier minds, notifying the name/country/year/type plus his musical feelings about it?
PS2: editing this rediscovering for the 45th time the Postal Service chef d'oeuvre: thank you Alo Audio, thank you Audeze!